LATEST ADDITIONS

Before diving into Luxman's new L-100 Centennial integrated amplifier ($11,995)—which marks the Japanese firm's 100th year in business—I did what any audio reviewer with a paper trail does: I read my past Luxman reportage: the L-509X and the L-509Z integrated amplifiers.

Since you're reading Stereophile, it's likely that you and music have an intense and (hopefully) steadfast relationship. Perhaps it dates from your formative years, or perhaps you and music found each other during a difficult or transitional life phase. Whatever the case, you found music—or music found you.

I sometimes lament how much technological know-how is required for a consumer to successfully navigate the world of high end audio. Why do we have to wade through all this engineering mumbo jumbo just to enjoy great sound?

I'm far too disorganized to have kept an accurate count, but I'm pretty sure that at this point in my life I have installed or adjusted well over 5000 phono cartridges. These days I work on three or four turntables in a typical week and have been doing that consistently for the last 40 years.

Music often brings me joy, awe, and, if I'm lucky, something close to transcendence, but it's not my only route there. A few years ago, on a sunny January day in Madrid's Prado museum, I went looking for Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights.

I believe that every question has only one right answer. And that most of us are pretty challenged when it comes to knowing what it is. I know I am. To redeem myself, I've devoted my life to thinking up dumb questions.

Earlier this year, I wrote two articles on record cleaning, in particular the ultrasonic kind. Some of the ideas I expressed were good and correct, like the choice of surfactant (Tergitol 15-S-9). Others, like the amount of Tergitol to use, were less well-considered.